my friend and i have been raising chickens for a couple of years now, all at his house because he has a barn. this year, we're building a coop at my house!

a couple of remarks, tho, about the posts:1. i don't know about the magnet thing, but this strangely similar process definitely works... when my wife was pregnant, we didn't want to know the sex of the baby. however, a friend's mother insisted on trying this "trick":take her wedding ring, put it on the longest strand of her hair you can find, have her lied down on her back, and do the same thing as the magnet "trick", except you suspend the ring right over her navel area. it proved true for both of our children... spoooooooooooky she was Dutch, and learned the "trick" from her grandmother when she was pregnant.2. a rooster is NOT REQUIRED for hens to lay eggs.3. a rooster IS REQUIRED to hens to lay fertile eggs from which chicks can be hatched.

I put an 4'x8' addition on chicken coop this weekend as we purchased 16 more barred rocks chicks and we have 10 RR hens laying already.Question is when is a safe time to add the young chicks to the coop with the older hens ? ... I have NO roosters never had any luck with them from being mean ....I read when the chicks have all their feathers on to put them in while a little small but about how many weeks would besafe?

If you have room after the younger birds are 3/4 grown and getting around very well.Take one of the older birds and put them in the pen with the younger, try that first. By taking an older bird out of its territory, this will acclimate the younger to the older make sure there is adequate room or they will get smothered or trampled. Make sure there is room that is a must,she (The Older bird) will want to seek out here group ,so a sight barrier may be a good Idea between pens. I have used this techniqe on Quail with good success. They are very territorial, and by interjecting the older ,this will give them a big SISTER. When you decide to put them togetther hope this helps.Phil

I am not a professional chicken master by any means, but everytime I have put smaller chickens in with bigger chickens the smaller ones got beaten up bad or killed. since you have added onto the coup seperate it untill the rocks are full size. then have a large door between the 2 halves. this way the next time you get more chicks the program and space is already set up.

i currently have the coop sectioned off but wanted to know if i should introduce them before the rocks get too big or if its better to do it when they get big. so i'll probably wait till they are a good size compared too the reds and see how it works out.. thanks i don't want to chance it but the coop area for chickens is a 8'x10' seems like a good size for the 26 total chickens when adult right now the rock chicks have a small 3'x5' area fenced off till big.thanks for the advice hope it works when the time comes!!!

Have 25 R I reds & 25 Barred Rocks a month old - hope to put the roosters in the freezer in another month or so then farm out the pullets and head south for the winter! Has been a fun project so far. Looking for a feed grinder tho so I can grind my own grain. W/start earlier next year! Dusty

when we got the RR chicks it was november and when we got the barred rock chicks it was july

liked when we got the in november had a huge box we kept them in the garage and me and my daughter age 5kept an eye on them together every day and now the rhode island reds come to ya better than my dogwhen you yell "come on girls" they come running like crazy at ya and when you walk over they squat downfor ya to pick them up they are definitely spoiled for chickens they never run from ya

ellens cub wrote:I have 5 RIR hens hope to get eggs in Sept. If you haven't already check out backyardchickens.com lots of info there.

Well right on cue my girls started laying in Sept. 3-5 eggs a day. Unfortunately, about 2 weeks ago, some dogs came into the yard while we were at work and made off with 3 of them and left a forth badly maimed. We now only have 1 and she is very lonely. dogs.

i'll tell you reading this post has given me all the motivation i need to get back on this chicken coop project.i'm going small though,last coop was a 12x10 shed and it's down the bottom falling apart right now. i'll set it ablaze after a good snow this winter. of course after i dig all that gold out of the floor, and transfer it to the gardens.some much work so little time.